MG EFI STARTING ISSUES

[BLUEY]

i've been offered a 2.0efi mg maestro from a friend of mine cheaply,the reason its cheap is that he can't get it to start.he drove it while it was low on fuel and when it started chugging he returned home,parked the car up and returned later with a can of fuel ,since then it won't start.its turns over,it has spark and fuel appears to be getting as far as the regualtor/fuel rail.all connections are clean and tight and just to sure he replaced the fuel filter and the ecu has been tested and deemed fit,all of which lead me to think either we've missed something really basic or something more serious is afoot and the running low on fuel was a coincedence.can any one help?:banghead:

[tony]

simple thing , have you checked the fuel cut off trip behind the radio has not tripped out, little red plunger i think.

i seem to think that this shuts power off to the injectors.

[BLUEY]

the owner hasn't mentioned this,i will have a go when i see the car on saturday.hopefully this may be all it is ,fingers ( and everything else) crossed.;)

[oseerees]

Dunno if same on Maestro, but some Montegos have fuel cut-out to right side (of driver's knee) under dash if not fitted behind radio.

You could be really naughty, lean down and if red knob of plunger is 'out', leave it and say 'well, looks like a garage job, I'll take it off your hands for a 'pint'. ;)

[MG MAL]

Some times it just needs more than one can of fuel due to the position of the pick up pipe.

Get him to put another couple of cans in and see what happens.
Might also be an idea to change the fuel filter at the same time, as he will have dragged up crap from the bottom of the tank.

Mal.

[F111RHK]

I had a similiar problem to this and it turned out to be the relay's under the bonnet.

[G Force]

we've missed something really basic or something more serious is afoot and the running low on fuel was a coincedence.can any one help?:banghead:

Hi I agree that the low fuel is just co-incidental. ;) usualy if you were to run out of fuel the engine would stumble and die very quickly.

I doubt very much the inertia switch will be the fault as it cuts power to fuel pump and ecu and injectors. so you would not get fuel at the regulator.

It sounds more likely that the engine developed a misfire probably HT related, I would check plugs, leads, distributor cap & rotor and then if nothing looks wrong try a new set of HT leads ;) you would still have a spark when you check at the plug but not when the system is under pressure if the leads were faulty.

MG MAL is right to say if you do run out of fuel it can often take around 3 gallons to get the engine restarted.

Regards gary:)